Thanks For Giving Your All!!!

[Rafter H BBQ]

So we can live free!

Just a quick moment to reflect on why we have this holiday. It kicks off summer, BBQ’s and fam get togethers… which is awesome!

But Memorial Day is about honoring those that never made it back and who gave all so we could live free. They paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country… and to that we can never repay… but we can honor their legacy and ensure the memory of them never dies.

All lost are someone’s Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother or Friend.

Thank You to those who serve and to those who gave all… our sincere appreciation for your sacrifice!

 

[Jim_C]

Agreed! All too often we don't reflect on the why's behind a holiday. This one's an important one.

As I've heard and read often; Freedom isn't guaranteed, and freedom isn't free.

 

[sandyut]

Thank you to all who served our country. Past present and future.

 

[Abigail4476]

 

[912smoker]

Thankful for those and their families that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
All gave some, some gave all

Keith

 

[ajbert]

I haven't celebrated Memorial Day in the "normal" way most folks do these days in quite a few years. At least not since I got back from Iraq in 2007. I knew a few folks during my time there, not really friends, that paid the ultimate price. Tomorrow will be a somber day for me and no BBQ, no party, no fun. Just a day of rememberance.

I'm not saying to anyone not to have a long weekend of fun and BBQ at all. I am only speaking for myself and don't have a problem with other folks enjoying the holiday in their own way.

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

I'm used to seeing small American flags sprout on veterans graves each Memorial Day...including on Dad's, and my wife's father's graves, both WWII vets. It's a nice touch.

It's a bigger deal here in North Idaho...driving by the local Coeur d'Alene cemetery, not only were the small flags up, but flanking a veteran's-only section of the cemetery 50 or 60 big flags had appeared overnight. They appear to be 4'x6' flags, on 15'+ flagpoles. Very impressive, very moving.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I haven't celebrated Memorial Day in the "normal" way most folks do these days in quite a few years. At least not since I got back from Iraq in 2007. I knew a few folks during my time there, not really friends, that paid the ultimate price. Tomorrow will be a somber day for me and no BBQ, no party, no fun. Just a day of rememberance.

I'm not saying to anyone not to have a long weekend of fun and BBQ at all. I am only speaking for myself and don't have a problem with other folks enjoying the holiday in their own way.

I thank you for your service!
My first roommate in college was deployed to Desert Storm, he was a medic in the Army... some tough times .

Ryan

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

I'm used to seeing small American flags sprout on veterans graves each Memorial Day...including on Dad's, and my wife's father's graves, both WWII vets. It's a nice touch.

It's a bigger deal here in North Idaho...driving by the local Coeur d'Alene cemetery, not only were the small flags up, but flanking a veteran's-only section of the cemetery 50 or 60 big flags had appeared overnight. They appear to be 4'x6' flags, on 15'+ flagpoles. Very impressive, very moving.

View attachment 735382

Much respect to you and Thank You for your service.

My Grandpa seen the worse of WWII, was on the front lines for the most part. Ambulance driver as well! He was under age… but requested my Great Granddad sign for him.

It was during the Depression and he said, it’d be one less mouth to feed as times were very tough.

He’d never talk of the war, but the people he met… He always mentioned the Australian folks.

My Grandma shared a few things after he passed.

One being in a foxhole for weeks, with someone who would not listen to keep their head down… and having to deal with that aftermath.

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

Much respect to you and Thank You for your service.

Thanks for the kind words, but I personally didn't serve. It was Dad and my father-in-law, who like your Grandfather, were members of the Greatest Generation.

Dad volunteered for the army when he turned 18, nearly a year after Pearl Harbor. He spent the war in the Philippines, never tip-of-the-spear, from what we could tell, but near enough for it to be a miserable few years. Like so many vets, he wouldn't talk about it. He finished his service with a year with the Allied occupation forces in Japan, which included brief stints in camps outside of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think the army was rotating people pretty quickly through those posts.

My father-in-law lied about his age, joined the navy at 16, but it was so late in the war he was never sent overseas. He served out his enlistment stateside.